UCL Fantasy Football: The Scout squad

Picking your #UCLfantasy squad is a precarious business towards the end of the group stage, with rotation a growing risk as teams who are already through to the round of 16 look to rest players. The Scout's squad for Matchday 5 is largely made up of players who have a point to prove.

Goalkeepers

With the qualification picture becoming ever clearer, there is a three-way tussle between Liverpool, Ajax and Atalanta at the top of Group D. The Italian side are at home to eliminated Midtjylland on Matchday 5 and should be full of confidence having won and kept a clean sheet at Anfield last week; with usual No1 Pierluigi Gollini going off injured at the weekend, Marco Sportiello (€4.5m), who played in the club's first three UEFA Champions League matches, should deputise again on Tuesday. Wednesday's selection is similarly straightforward: Chelsea's Edouard Mendy (€5.2m) has kept three clean sheets in four Group E appearances and conceded only one goal, to add to his five shut-outs from six Premier League outings. One of those blanks came against Matchday 5 opponents Sevilla at Stamford Bridge, with both teams now through to the round of 16.

Defenders

The second of Atalanta's three representatives in the squad comes among the five defenders, with Cristian Romero (€4.9m) joint fourth in the highest-scoring defenders charts on 28 points – despite playing just three of the four games. With 13 of those points coming via ball recoveries, the budget pick is in line for another decent haul even if his side fail to keep a clean sheet. Another of the lower-priced options is Borussia Mönchengladbach's Oscar Wendt (€4.3m), who marked his first appearance in this season's competition with a bumper 15 points on Matchday 5. Thomas Meunier has been a consistent choice in the back line but went off injured on Saturday so Mats Hummels (€5.1m) is the Dortmund selection for Wednesday's visit of Lazio. Elsewhere, Barcelona and Juventus have dominated Group G and face Ferenváros away and Dynamo Kyiv at home respectively in the penultimate round. Sergiño Dest (€5.0m) is a cheaper way into the Spanish side's defence and has the bonus of scoring 13 of his total 19 points on Matchday 4, while Danilo (€5.0m) will hope to post a first clean sheet since the competition's opening day at Dynamo when the Ukrainian team come to Turin.

Midfielders

Juventus and Mönchengladbach's fixtures certainly look promising for Matchday 5, and both clubs also provide members of the midfield as a result. The two players are their respective sides' second highest scorer in this season's competition overall: Juve's Juan Cuadrado (€6.5m) has bagged 25 points in total, ten of them from his last appearance when he supplied two assists at home to Ferencváros; Lars Stindl (€8.0m) has 27 points and is a player in form having scored 13 points on Matchday 3 and 12 on Matchday 4. Another currently hitting the heights is Diogo Jota (€7.7m), who has eight goals in his last eight Liverpool outings; the Reds face a home game against Ajax knowing that a win would book their place in the round of 16. Sérgio Oliveira (€6.6m) has scored in each of Porto's last three Group C fixtures, also registering a clean sheet in each, and is included again despite a daunting match at home to Manchester City – although the English team are already into the last 16. Finally, Zenit might have endured a tough campaign to date but their midfielder Wílmar Barrios (€4.5m) is a popular budget selection, particularly as 11 of his 15 points have come via the ball recovery route.

Forwards

Up front, one name stands out, as it has throughout the group stage – Erling Braut Haaland (€11.0m) has scored in all four matches, including two away and at home on Matchdays 3 and 4. The Norwegian had struck in seven successive games in all competitions – 12 goals in total – before drawing a blank at the weekend but, with 16 goals in 14 UEFA Champions League appearances, is impossible to overlook for the home match with Lazio. Similarly, Cristiano Ronaldo (€12.0m) belatedly opened his account for the 2020/21 tournament on Matchday 4 and will want to increase his haul at home to Dynamo; meanwhile Alejandro Gómez (€8.5m) has been steady rather than spectacular for Atalanta this term but has still harvested 19 points – seven at Midtjylland on Matchday 1 – with signs the Italian outfit were getting back to their best in last week's impressive win at Liverpool.